Fact check: How many of the past 20 years has chicago had the highest murder rate in the country

1. Summary of the results

Based on the available analyses, Chicago has not consistently held the highest murder rate in the country over the past 20 years, but it has dominated in specific metrics during certain periods. The most concrete data comes from ^[1], which states that for 13 consecutive years, Chicago has had the most murders of any U.S. city, and for seven consecutive years, Chicago has had the highest murder rate among U.S. cities with more than one million people. This finding is corroborated by ^[2], which confirms that Chicago has consistently had the highest homicide rate for the past seven years among the four U.S. cities with populations above 1,000,000.

However, the sources reveal important distinctions between different crime metrics. While Chicago may lead in total murder numbers due to its large population, ^[2] notes that city officials claim that Chicago is not among the top 25 most dangerous cities in the country when considering per-capita rates across all city sizes.

Recent trends show significant improvement, with ^[3] reporting that shootings and homicides across Chicago are down more than 30% through the first half of 2025, and ^[4] documenting a 33% reduction in homicides and a 38% reduction in shootings in the first six months of 2025.

2. Missing context/alternative viewpoints

The original question lacks crucial context about how murder rates are calculated and compared. The analyses reveal that Chicago's ranking depends heavily on whether you're measuring:

• Total number of murders (where Chicago leads due to population size)
• Murder rate per capita among large cities (population over 1 million)
• Murder rate per capita among all U.S. cities regardless of size

City officials and law enforcement agencies benefit from emphasizing different metrics depending on their narrative goals. Chicago officials, as noted in ^[2], prefer to highlight that the city doesn't rank in the top 25 most dangerous when all cities are considered, while critics focus on Chicago's leadership in total murders and rates among major cities.

The question also fails to account for significant year-to-year variations in crime rates. Sources indicate that ^[5] Chicago saw homicides drop to nearly the 20-year average in 2024, suggesting substantial fluctuation over the two-decade period in question.

3. Potential misinformation/bias in the original statement

The original question contains an implicit assumption that Chicago has frequently held the highest murder rate nationally, which the available data doesn't fully support across all measurement criteria. This framing could perpetuate misconceptions about Chicago's relative danger compared to smaller cities with higher per-capita rates.

The question's focus on a 20-year timeframe may be strategically chosen to maximize Chicago's apparent dominance, given that ^[1] only provides data for 13 consecutive years of leading in total murders and 7 years of leading among large cities. Political figures and media outlets who benefit from portraying Chicago as exceptionally dangerous would favor this longer timeframe and the focus on total numbers rather than per-capita rates.

Additionally, the question ignores recent dramatic improvements in Chicago's crime statistics, as documented in multiple sources showing 30%+ reductions in violent crime through 2025 ^{[3] [4]}. This omission could serve those who benefit from maintaining Chicago's reputation as a crime-ridden city despite current trends.